In addition,
- Suppress opportunities
- Set lifespan to normal
- Call before the game "officially" starts and stop newspapers from coming.
- Send your sims to the grocery store and to the book store once and buy what you want to start the game with.

Your Lot

Buy an empty lot. If you want to play a hard game, choose a large lot.

Create a small house on it. The size of the house does not matter, but be sure to leave yourself a little bit of money.

You may not have anything in the house that uses electricity, (lights, oven, tv, etc) as the power grid has been turned off due to the deterioration of society.

You MAY have an outdoor grill, a fireplace, and candles, as well as anything non electric. Anything that you can justify as 'battery operated' you can own, such as a radio, but once it is broken you may not fix it. (no more batteries) and must delete it.

Unfortunately there is no running water either. You may have one toilet that you may not flush or repair, and no showers.

You must create a full size fence surrounding your property to protect your sims from zombie attacks. It can be as small or big as you want, but after you begin the challenge your sims may not go outside the fence unless otherwise specified. I suggest deleting the gate when appropriate.

You also need to move the mailbox and garbage can inside the fence. All mailmen and NPCs that show up are zombies.

Create your founders.

Create a married couple. Each of them (and their children for the duration of the challenge) needs to have at least one of the following "survival" traits:

If your sims leave the secured fenced area when they are not allowed, assume they have been bitten by a zombie and kill them. You may cheat, use fire, starvation or drowning to do so.

You may not use cheats to give yourself extra money or take care of your simâs needs. You may only cheat to delete the things that need to be deleted or kill any sim that is zombified throughout the game.

Stage Zero: Zombie Infestation
(begins with your founding couple)

Everyone around you is a zombie. Literally. You managed to survive due to the self sustaining trait(s) you happened to have.

This generation

-Must Grow their own food
-Each child they have must have at least one survival trait.
-Anyone that develops a non-surviving trait must be killed by the time they are young adults.
-All female sims that plan to have babies must have the family oriented trait. If your sim does not have this trait when she gets pregnant, she does not survive the birth due to complications and no medical help. The child, however, will survive.

This Generation May not:

-Interact with ANYONE besides housemates (they are all zombies)
-Use electricity of any kind
-Use the phone
-Use running water
-Leave the fenced lot
-Give birth at the hospital
-Move anyone out of the house

Stage One: Military Takeover
(begins when the last child from generation one grows into young adulthood)

Your family toiled away, made their own food and managed to raise kids while avoiding zombie infestation. Now the military is moving into town, taking up shop and killing zombies.

This generation

-May join the Military or Law Enforcement career. Only those old enough to have a job can leave the secured area however, and only to go to work.
-May only marry coworkers (everyone else is a zombie)
-Your sim may not leave to visit their romantic interest until they are at the 5th level of their profession or until they have 10 athletic points. Their romantic interest may visit them.
-Must have at least one child with one survival trait. If the child develops a non-survival trait, they got themselves killed by zombies.
-If no one of the opposite sex is available to marry in these careers, your sim may adopt a child. (save an orphaned child from attacking zombies) However, you must kill off your adopted child if s/he has (or develops) no surviving traits, or any of the non-surviving traits.
-The military has been kind enough to give your family a back up generator, however it can only support 2 items that use electricity. The military also has given you a cell phone. You may only use it to call other non-zombie sims (unless of course you want to talk to zombies about âbraaaiiinss....â
-All female sims that plan to have babies must have the family oriented trait. If your sim does not have this trait when she gets pregnant, she does not survive the birth due to complications and no medical help. The child, however, will survive.

This Generation May Not:

-Interact with anyone outside of work
-Use contraception. They ran out and theres no one left to make it. (must âtry for babyâ every time they woohoo)
-Use more than 2 electrical items
-Move anyone out of the house.
-Use running water
-Leave the fenced lot (outside of work or visiting romantic interests)

Stage Two: Crime
(begins when the last child from generation two grows into young adulthood)

The military has been overworked lately with killing mass numbers of zombies. Theyâre thinking about just nuking the whole town. To make matters worse, other survivors have come into town to loot. Everyone that doesnât join their gang will be robbed.

This generation:

-Must have at least one person in level 5 of the criminal career or level 10 in athletic. Otherwise once everyday you must use the testingcheats cheat to force a burglar to come. You can also delete something of value.
-If your sim goes to jail for any reason, they must be killed. Laws donât apply any more.
-Your sims may only get jobs and marry within the Criminal career. Sims that are already in other jobs at the beginning of this stage may keep them.
-Must have at least one child that develops the kleptomaniac or evil trait in addition to survival traits. If the child has any traits not prone to survival, they got themselves killed by zombies.
-If no one of the opposite sex is available to marry in this career, your sim may adopt a child. (save an orphaned child from attacking zombies) However, you must kill off your adopted child if s/he has (or develops) no surviving traits, or any of the non-surviving traits.
-May use 2 electrical items.
-May use the phone to call other, non-zombie sims.
-All female sims that plan to have babies must have the family oriented trait. If she does not have this trait and gets pregnant, she does not survive the birth due to complications and no medical help. Her child will survive.

This Generation May Not:

-Have any alarms or call the police.
-Use running water.
-Join the Military or law enforcement careers.
-Move anyone out of the house

Stage Three: Vaccine
(begins when the last child from generation three grows into young adulthood. This stage will last as many generations as it takes to create a vaccine successfully)

The military has done a good job of cleaning up the city. Theyâve gotten control of the looting problems. There are still zombies around, but not nearly as many. With military escort around, the remaining scientists and medical professionals have been called in to create a vaccine for zombism.

This Generation:

-At least one of your sims must go into the medical or science careers now and help create the vaccineâŚ
-However, by doing this they are volunteering themselves as guinea pigs. Every Friday you must roll a die or use a random generator to determine if your sim will live or be zombified. If you roll an even number they live, an odd number they must be killed. The only exception to this is during pregnancy. After 3 positive rolls, the vaccine is successfully created.
-Your household can give birth at the hospital, and use contraception. Female sims that are not family oriented may have children.
-The science career is working on making the water safe to drink again. Your household may now use running water.
-During this stage, your sims can still enter the military or law enforcement careers.
-May use 2 electrical items.
-May use the phone to call other, non-zombie sims.
-Your sims can only marry other sims within the military, law enforcement, criminal, medical or science careers. (Everyone else is a zombie)
-Must have at least one child with one survival trait and not more than one trait not prone to survival.
-If no one of the opposite sex is available to marry in these careers, your sim may adopt a child. (save an orphaned child from attacking zombies) However, you must kill off your adopted child if s/he has (or develops) no surviving traits, or any of the non-surviving traits.
-Once the vaccine is created, sims may walk the streets freely.

This Generation May not:

-Interact with anyone outside of work
-Leave the fenced lot (outside of work or visiting romantic interests) until a vaccine is created.
-Move anyone out of the house

TIPS:

-I would suggest having at least 2 children each generation, that way you have a back up if one of them develops a non-surviving trait.
-You may cheat to age up a child and kill them, or you may choose to wait.
- X out automatic actions (such as cleaning a toilet when its not allowed) and it won't count against you.
-You are allowed to delete (sell) the veggies you grow and fish you catch, write novels, paint and hack after the beginning of stage one.
- Sims that leave your lot due to bugs in the game will not count against you.

Expansion Packs:

Pets

Pets are allowed in this challenge if they were a part of the family before the apocalypse started. You cannot adopt pets from the outside world because they are contaminated (think resident evil), so if you would like to breed them, you must have had at least two already. Having the Pets expansion pack may also make it more difficult for your sims to go into town, as now they must avoid NPCs, random zombified townies, and wild animals/strays. Coming into contact with any of them will result in the sim's death.

Supernatural

Zombies in the Supernatural expansion pack will not actually kill your sims, nor will they disturb sleeping sims. They are very toned down and might not work for this challenge at all, but you are welcome to try. All other rules apply. Absolutely NO changing zombies back into regular sims.

World Adventures

No travelling, sorry

Special thanks to chaoticidealism for the updated version they posted on the forum. And to Pinstar for the inspiring Apocalypse Challenge.

You have to boolprop the mailbox and trash can away - shift click it, go to object and click "delete it". But why do we have to delete the trash bin? Won't that just mean trash piles up on the floor? And no sinks means piles of dirty dishes unless the family lives on raw foods, which they probably should. Unless the point is that they live in potential squalor as well, which makes a certain amount of sense.

And what about novels and/or painting? Hacking too, if you decide to get a computer as an electrical item. Is there anyone out there to buy them? Maybe after stage 0, when the family can actually leave the house under controlled circumstances/interact with other people, you can start selling novels, paintings and plants, plus hacking for the military or what not? It's not like you need money in stage 0 - your family must be completely self sufficient.

I would also suggest not placing the job lots, save for the bookstore and grocery store, until they're "unlocked" - EA likes to force random homeless "townie" sims into them, which messes up the plot line and reduces the pool of townies in your specific job. (As soon as you join a career, EA will shoe horn or make up some folks to fill the boss slot.)

I'm excited to try this... I have set up a Riverview neighborhood as specified (no school, no premade people, etc.). However, I wanted to ask about the lot price... your post says to "buy a lot that costs between 6,000 and 8,000 sim dollars". In my neighborhood, a 40x40 lot is only 3,200. Especially since I'm only making a 10x10 house, I really don't want a giant 50x50 lot for my couple of sims and their kids.

Is there a specific lot size that you recommend, like "at least 30x30" or something? I know I'm being picky, but I just thought if I was going to play through the thing, I might as well do it right I love the idea and of all the different challenges I've read through, this is the first one that I thought "yes, I'll do it!" (thanks to recently finishing the first season of Walking Dead).

You remind me of a slinky...
I see no real use for you, but you bring a smile to my face when I push you down the stairs...

Oh my goodness! I thought the first generation was going to be so easy. Got the gardens and fishing going. My couple was having a really great time. Got pregnant right away, and then it all fell apart! They had twin girls. The whole household is in a horrible mood because they are stir crazy and stinky, and the toilet is broken and making a mess. I had to actually put the bed out in the yard because every time someone falls asleep the babies take turns crying. Haha! Way more difficult than I was expecting!

I also decided to go ahead and hold off on selling fish and plants till the second generation.

Oh man. I decided, in the interest of masochism, to count a fridge as electronic. And you can't cook anything (not even fish on the grill) w/o one, so they have to live on raw food. Of course, when I set it up I didn't buy them enough raw foods to live on until there garden grew so they starved to death the day their first baby (who had no survival traits) was born, within hours of each other. The kid (who was taken by the social worker). I then moved another copy of the couple into the house (kept the graves of Mark I on the lot, just for kicks) and went from there. They barely didn't starve to death this time, because there was only day until the nascent plants grew fruit that they could eat. Still no fridge. All they do all day is skill and look after the baby. Their mostly always in bad moods, cause they stink (gives them the stinky moodlet and the disgusted moodlet) and have no light (the darkness moodlet). Also their toilet breaks all the time. Thankfully, I gave them a sealed off bathroom and nursery so they messy house doesn't plague them. How do you stop newspapers, by the way? By the end of the challenge, there will be piles and piles.

Hey, thought I'd check up on this. I'm really glad that you guys are enjoying it! It seems like you guys are figuring things out without me, but to acknowledge some of the questions:

What length should the lifespan be? Whatever you want. It's your challenge and your game. I'd say normal is probably the easiest.

tiffanieljones- I really like your idea for scoring. I don't really play challenges with scores so I didn't include it, but you definitely can!

Is there a way to get your sim to not flush? Mine usually just do it automatically. I've had that problem too, mostly with my neat freak sims. I've also had problems with them automatically cleaning the toilet. I just X the action out when I see them doing it. Obviously it doesn't count against you in that case.

But why do we have to delete the trash bin? Won't that just mean trash piles up on the floor? The point of this is that there's no more trash service around, but if you really don't like this rule, then by all means, don't play with it.

Also, are you allowed to delete (sell) the veggies you grow and fish you catch? I think after the beginning of stage one, definitely, but until then everyone else is a zombie so who would you sell them to?

And what about novels and/or painting? Hacking too, if you decide to get a computer as an electrical item. Again, yes, if you're at a point in your family where they have other non zombified people to sell to. I'm not sure about hacking. I think that should be allowed... although it doesn't matter much.. money doesn't mean a whole lot in a zombie apocalypse lol. Great suggestions, Lovelyhera!

However, I wanted to ask about the lot price... your post says to "buy a lot that costs between 6,000 and 8,000 sim dollars". In my neighborhood, a 40x40 lot is only 3,200. Especially since I'm only making a 10x10 house, I really don't want a giant 50x50 lot for my couple of sims and their kids. Its more about having the same amount of money for every challenge. A good solution is to use a cheat to get rid of the extra money, or buy lots of trees. Make sure you have a large enough lot for growing food, but not so large that the fence will cost a fortune.

How do you stop newspapers, by the way? By the end of the challenge, there will be piles and piles. Not 100% on this but i think you can call and have them stop coming... that might be something to include in the preparation section... Anybody know?

Has anybody gotten to the end of this challenge yet successfully? If so... (Sorry i just had to use one of these little smilies)

So, I started this challenge a few days ago and Stage Zero of my game is almost complete. But I have a quick question, when it's talking about the traits it's my understanding that a Sim is killed by zombies if it has either two (or more) non-survival traits OR it doesn't have any survival traits. Correct?

Mmm... how can zombies "kill" a sim that is enclosed between stone walls? I can usderstand that women giving birth can die even if they are in a safe place, but... how can zombies reach any sim with not enough survival chance, if they are safe behind four stone walls?
I would say, for making the challenge more realistic, that they can go out, to fish, gather seed, and survival things, but we should roll a dice or generate a number to see if they come back or not. We can make it so a group of sims exploring has more chances of survival than a single sim (group would be if thay are in the same lot), and take into account what vehicle they use to move around (walking is slow, cars are noisy, bicycles do not allow sims to carry as much -guns, water, a pack of dry clothes, and other survival things- as a car would, motorbikes are the noisiest but the fastest, as streets are "blocked" by crashed cars, trash and barricades), and of course, their traits.
All that will force players to divide their sims. Those with a bad personality stay inside, and the best explorers can go out and do things.
What do you all think?

Got into abit of a pickle. In stage one, had a baby.. plants finally able to harvest. One problem my sims are too hungry to harvest them xD So i'm going to use 'Rafe Weisz' idea. The father is going to adventure out to get more supplies. Going to roll a dice. If it rolls odd he dies, even he lives. But to make it more interesting if he rolls either a 3 or a 6 he makes it back with the supplies, but he was bitten by a zombie. So then he returns the supplies to his wife and kid and leaves the safe house to turns into a zombie (dies).

really cool.i dont like getting rid of familes,so i decided to pretend that the zombies reside theire.im also gonna delete most of the rabbit holes,and when they unlock them,i will place it.they get a chance to unlock them early by rolling a six,ill try to show pics

Okay if the kid is born/develops 2 or more non-survival traits, he or she is supposed to be killed off. Got it. How do I do that without the social worker taking away ALL the kids?

mar. 12-

Ok After 2 sons with the clumsy trait, their third son was thankfully born WITHOUT any non survival traits. Granted, he's a grumpy loner...but at least he's more likely to live. The only way the parents are happy enough to try for babies is right after the kids are born since they are both family oriented sims.

I would say, for making the challenge more realistic, that they can go out, to fish, gather seed, and survival things, but we should roll a dice or generate a number to see if they come back or not.

I really like that idea! Thanks for sharing it. If others agree and like it too, I'll put it in the rules.

Quote:

are any of the lifetime rewards banned from this challenge?

Good question. I didn't consider that at all. I think it should be up to the individual player. If you want to include them, go ahead.

Quote:

it's my understanding that a Sim is killed by zombies if it has either two (or more) non-survival traits OR it doesn't have any survival traits. Correct?

Yup.

Quote:

How do I do that without the social worker taking away ALL the kids?

I honestly don't remember if there's a way to kill children without getting the social worker involved. If there isn't, you can wait until they're teens. I think at that point, they can die in a tragic fire. (note: you may cheat to kill them) If anyone has any suggestions for this, let us know.

since right now i'm playing without cheats, can i just have them move out the second they age up enough and call them "contaminated".

i'm going pretty for reals cheatless, i'll once in a while kaching, but thats it.

i hesitate to delete mailboxes, and garbage cause that used to really jack up yer game back in sims2, so i'm a lil gun shy about messing with that "important technicaly coded into the inner workings of the game" type stuff...

geez, i cant even figure out how to create new worlds or neighborhoods, or whatever the heck they are in this one...

but i LOVE zombies, and i LOVE playing survival type folks.

if i could figure out making a brand new world that wouldnt mess up one already started, coded in, "dont touch that, the bomb will go off" way into the game, i would try this in a hot second. cause this sounds GREAT. you put alot of thought into this.

i thought of somethiong though, can you even kill sims by drowning in sims3? cause i would swear i've seen them just hop out without a ladder.

AND, i thought of something on the lot size, go ahead and buy a huge one i suppose, and secure "compound fence" in a smaller part. like just around the shack and garden. maybe a smallish fishin hole...

i'll probally try to find a way to do this halfassed, in a prefab neighborhood. i really dont know what i'll do about deleting schools and such though... i'm pretty sure if i ditch i'll get busted and sent to military school.

i'm trying a really modified version of this, cause i dont want to delete my schools or my other family in barnacle bay. i dont have any kids old enough to attend yet, but i'll figure something out...
it's really hard, i created a child to start off with the couple, then i sent 1 parent to the grocery store, then the other. didnt want to leave the lil bundle alone. bought a bunch of veggies and such, planted them, have a pond behind my compound walls, but the fishing is terrible. they have a firepit, so they're eeking along, i caught daddy fixing the toilet when i wasnt looking, and he was almost done, i didnt have the heart to stop him, and it gave mommy something nice to compliment him on, and they got all friendly, and mommy had twins. fangoshdurntastic. now they're miserable. but still are trying...

now, i'm considering not really jumping "ahead" but allowing them to go out and fish at better fishing spots, but only 1 at a time, and only durring the day. only adults. hope one of the other meets a cop or military person. maybe a fireman. that might let me justify letting the oldest kid go to school cause like i said, i dont want to modify barnacle bay that bad.

i had a burglar, daddy beat the crap outa him. thats where i'm almost thinking daddy might go searching for "signs of life" i'll make a rule for this family in stage 1, only military or law enforcement, maybe firefighter.

now, with my twins, they both have a "positive" trait, in fact i think 1 has both starters as "good" ones. but i think, one of the twins has 1 "good" 1 "bad". now, since i'm doing a terrible job of sticking to your rules, i dont know why i'm even asking but i am... do i HAVE to kill that infant, or since she kinda evens out as an infant, can i give her another stage to improve? just to see?

i thought of somethiong though, can you even kill sims by drowning in sims3? cause i would swear i've seen them just hop out without a ladder.

Yep, you can kill sims by drowning! Just make your sim go into the pool to swim, and build a wall around the pool.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Weeaboo

I'd like to know how they can reproduce if they're related?

Not all sims will be related. Different stages have different rules but you generally may marry anyone from your profession. For example, in stage one, Military and Law Enforcement are the only non-zombies alive. If your sim goes into the Military profession during stage one then they can choose a mate from the Military. Hope this clears things up!

Quote:

Originally Posted by somethingelse

since right now i'm playing without cheats, can i just have them move out the second they age up enough and call them "contaminated"? AND, i thought of something on the lot size, go ahead and buy a huge one i suppose, and secure "compound fence" in a smaller part. like just around the shack and garden. maybe a smallish fishin hole...

Of course! If you want to play without cheats, go ahead and wait. Just be aware that you'll have an extra mouth to feed. Changing their name to "CONTAMINATED" might be a useful idea to keep track. You can also just move them out as adults instead of killing them. Maybe you can work it into the plot line... the family doesn't have the guts to kill their own children so they locked them up in a shed separate from the house.... I like your idea about adding a fishing hole to your lot. Thats a great way to get food without leaving the lot and losing the game.

Quote:

Originally Posted by fawkes411

Also, I remembered an older Sims 3 family that had a child die drowning because I was focused on something else at the time. The social worker made no appearance.

I typed all this out AFTER I realized that you answered everybody's questions. Anyway, interesting observation. I wonder if its a fluke...

Quote:

Originally Posted by somethingelse

now, since i'm doing a terrible job of sticking to your rules, i dont know why i'm even asking but i am... do i HAVE to kill that infant, or since she kinda evens out as an infant, can i give her another stage to improve? just to see?

Since you are playing a modified version of this, you may have to break some rules. However, I think you should go ahead and label the infant zombified since there are two and the modification of the game will not necessarily affect the trait rule. But, as always, its your game. If you're having fun with this challenge, that's what really matters. Some people like challenges because to say they were able to finish it, and some people play for the story line. Its really a matter of preference.